You may not have heard of Electronic Arts, a boutique publishing label based in Redwood City, Calif. Well, I bet you will be raving about them once you pick up the "EA Indie Bundle" on Steam, the indie-friendly digital marketplace, unlike that Origin bullshit run by that place that screwed up the end of Mass Effect 3.

The Indie Game Magazine discovered the bundle was recently registered on Steam. It contains Shank, Shank 2, Deathspank, Deathspank: Thongs Of Virtue, Warp and Gatling Gears, and is currently live, for $20.98 (a savings of $13.96).

The offer ends May 9, so please, reach into those wallets and support independent games development. Thank you.

Well this is some creative marketing. Head on over to markoftheninja.com to play through a ninja-centric text adventure game. It's called "Mark of the Ninja," and it's brought to you by Klei Entertainment, makers of Shank.

(Well, it's not really a "text adventure" game like Zork or The Lurking Horror, it's more of a "choose your own adventure." But I digress.)

You'll assume the role of a black-clad Japanese assassin, making choices about how best to hunt and kill your prey. Do you lash out from the shadows, or do you wait?

Here in the street stands another guard, bigger than the last. He's guarding the entrance to a squat hotel. He is the only man standing between you and your prey.
You wait for the guard to glance away, and then fling your grappling hook at the lightpost. It hooks the metal and pulls you through the air with a gentle whoosh, until you are perched above your enemy. Even if he looks up, he won't see you: the light is in his eyes.

As you make decisions, the prompts asking what you'd like to do melt away, replaced by a "final" version of the story you just told. It's neat! And then you finish the story and, of course, are treated to some gameplay footage of the realMark of the Ninja, an upcoming 2D stealth video game made by Klei.

And so this choose-your-own-adventure game stealthily becomes a video game teaser... just like a ninja.

Mark of the Ninja [Klei Entertainment]

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Shank 2's Launch Trailer Paints the Walls Red

8 de feb. 2012

This launch trailer for Shank 2 is a spectacle of gore and cartoony style. One of the sequel's additions to the original downloadable game is Survival Mode, which you can get your bloodthirsty eyeballs on right here. Both there and in the game's single-player, rest assured that yes, you will feel like Rambo (and that's not new to the sequel).

Shank 2 is available now on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

Kotaku

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Shank 2, Gotham City Impostors, Catherine New This Week on the PlayStation Store

8 de feb. 2012

This week, there's a good amount of solid stuff new at the PlayStation store; it ain't the horn of plenty that we've seen in the past, but it's certainly better than the cursed wasteland that was last week's PlayStation Store update.

We've got Shank 2, which is new this week, as well as Gotham City Impostors, and a full-game download of the super-cool Catherine. Rocksmith gets some Pearl Jam music, and there's even some free Amy wallpaper, since I know you've all been jonesing for that.

Read the full list below:

PlayStation Plus

PSN Games: The Simpsons Arcade Game
minis: Hungry Giraffe
Gold Medalist
PS one Classics: Final Fantasy V
Early Access Demo: The House Of The Dead III Exclusive Playstation Plus Demo
Media: Qore Episode 45 – February
Full Game Trial: Catherine

PS3 Wallpapers (free)

PS2 Classics

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie ($9.99)

Videos on the PlayStation Store for PSP

The Tester Season 3 Episode 1

Kotaku

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Get to Know the Bloody Basics of Shank 2’s Co-Op Survival Mode

2 de feb. 2012

The sequel to Klei Entertainment's cartoony stab-em-up brings me something that I desperately wanted from the first Shank: a frantic 2D twist to the waves-of-enemies gameplay popularized by Gears of War's Horde Mode. The nuts-and-bolts of Shank 2's Survival Mode get laid out in the clip above, which looks a lot simpler than it actually plays. I've already gotten my hands on this part of Shank 2 and I think it'll please anyone who wants an update on Double Dragon-style action. You'll be able to buddy up in Shank 2 next week.

Kotaku

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This Shank 2 Teaser Takes on the Military and Wins

6 de ene. 2012

Klei Entertainment's sequel to the stylish stab-em-up I—and many others—loved is scheduled for an early 2012 release. The clip above shows off new enemies and moves but the game still looks like the bloodiest Saturday morning cartoon never made.

Kotaku

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The New Humble Indie Bundle Might Be The Best One Yet

13 de dic. 2011

We've seen our share of Humble Indie Bundles over the past year or two—independent developers who gather under the "Humble" brand and release a bunch of their games priced at whatever people want to pay.

The latest one, Humble Bundle #4, might be the best one yet—for any price you want, you can get Super Meat Boy, Bit. Trip Runner, Jamestown, Shank and Nightsky. Pay more than the average price (currently tracking at $4.61 on the Humble Bundle site), you get Cave Story + and Gratuitous Space Battles as well.

There's no shortage of gaming to be done this December, but these are all great games, for a great price. And not only will you be supporting indie devs, you'll have the option to give money to either the American Red Cross or Child's Play.

Check out their (endearingly cheesy and reference-laden) trailer above. It's funny, I was quoting that bit from The Rock all last weekend for some reason.

Humble Indie Bundle #4 [Humblebundle.com]

Kotaku

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These Shank 2 Co-Op Screens are a Bloody Good Time

24 de oct. 2011

Klei Entertainment's upcoming Shank 2 brings a new brand of extreme slice-em-up to the stage with its co-op gameplay. We've already seen some of it in action off-screen, and it certainly looks like a lot of team-stabbin'.

Klei sent along a grip of new screenshots from both the single-player and teh co-op. I thought I'd share them here. Enjoy!

Kotaku

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Who Needs Co-op? Here's the First Few Minutes of Shank 2's Single-Player

13 de oct. 2011

Inspired as it is by 1980s action-movie tropes, you can probably guess the plot of Shank 2's story mode. If your guess involves the hero renouncing his violent ways and trying to embrace a quieter existence, only to have his old life come back to wreak havoc in his new one, then you get a prize.

That prize is the opening chunk of Shank 2's single-player. What you may not be able to make out in this video is the additional depth of field in the backgrounds, which makes the world feel more alive than in the previous title. The character animations look noticeably smoother, too, adding a bit more nuance to the little gestures they make when idle. As far as gameplay, you'll now be able to pick up and use dropped enemy weapons like baseball bats and shovels. You'll also be able to counter enemy attacks—opportunities marked by big exclamation points—with moves that end in one-hit kills.

A second clip shows the first boss battle of the sequel, which unfolds in similar fashion to the first game's big showdowns. Look for Shank 2 to chainsaw its way to consoles early next year.

You can contact Evan Narcisse, the author of this post, at evan@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.

Kotaku

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Who Needs Co-op? Here's the First Few Minutes of Shank 2's Single-Player

13 de oct. 2011

Inspired as it is by 1980s action-movie tropes, you can probably guess the plot of Shank 2's story mode. If your guess involves the hero renouncing his violent ways and trying to embrace a quieter existence, only to have his old life come back to wreak havoc in his new one, then you get a prize.

That prize is the opening chunk of Shank 2's single-player. What you may not be able to make out in this video is the additional depth of field in the backgrounds, which makes the world feel more alive than in the previous title. The character animations look noticeably smoother, too, adding a bit more nuance to the little gestures they make when idle. As far as gameplay, you'll now be able to pick up and use dropped enemy weapons like baseball bats and shovels. You'll also be able to counter enemy attacks—opportunities marked by big exclamation points—with moves that end in one-hit kills.

A second clip shows the first boss battle of the sequel, which unfolds in similar fashion to the first game's big showdowns. Look for Shank 2 to chainsaw its way to consoles early next year.

You can contact Evan Narcisse, the author of this post, at evan@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.